Different viewpoints on the need to light up

Re “Beyond a Craving” [April 25]: I’ve recently quit smoking so let me remind you that despite the numerous, grave health risks, people continue to choose to smoke because they enjoy it. It’s as simple as that.

Nicotine has a variety of positive effects that no one seems to remember anymore. Smoking -- pleasant; quitting -- unpleasant.

Smokers are already social pariahs; skewing studies to establish them as rife with mental disorders does not help them quit; it only fuels anti-smoking mania.

If you really want people to quit smoking, stop slandering them and start helping them pragmatically and respectfully.

S. O’Shea

Los Angeles

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What I really wonder is what a sampling of smokers in Paris would come up with?

Very avant-garde, intelligent, coffee-drinking smokers who would definitely be willing to discuss the merits of suicide along with the merits of any topic, I suppose.

“Regional differences” pops into my mind.

Denise Clary-Wilson

Culver City

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Given that all 900 of the participants in the Michigan State-Ford Health System study live in the Detroit area, might not that factor have played a part in their tendency to be suicidal?

Kurt Brown

Palm Springs